The End of Mark?

Introduction

After the message last week on Blind Bartimaeus, I had thought that I was finished with Mark, but the Lord impressed upon me the need to finish Mark at the end.

That is not as simple as it may sound for many people, depending on which version of the Bible that you use, Mark can either end at Chapter 16 verse 8, or as in my bible Chapter 16 verse 20. This makes this passage the largest and most disputed passage in the bible. The other big one is the woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11.

Some Bible versions add a note about the longer ending not being in the oldest manuscripts. The New Revised Standard Version, which is that, used by most Anglicans around the world has two alternative endings, a short one and the long one. So where does that leave us? Baptists aren’t alone in loving their Bibles and since we believe in biblical inerrancy, we need to know that we can trust our Bibles to be the accurate word of God.

I have come across issues like this a couple of times since I have been here and there are always those who are worried by such discrepancies. The purpose of today's message is to remove the worry and reassure you all that you can trust your Bibles.

The first thing to note is that there is nothing in this passage of Mark that you can’t find in other parts of the New Testament. The next thing is to question the motivation behind the desire to discredit this portion of scripture as a later addition to the biblical text. By far the loudest cries against the passage come from those scholars who are cessationist. They do not believe that the offices and gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today. One particular scholar made a serious error of fact relating to this passage in the first edition of his work. He later corrected the mistake but that hasn’t stopped other well-known authors from parroting his earlier version in their own commentaries without ever giving a thought to correcting the false information. Why spoil a good argument with facts .

To add a little perspective there are over 8,000 ancient Greek New testament manuscripts with Mark’s gospel. Only two of them do not have Mark 16: 9-20. Of those two, one has evidence that the pages with our text on it had been removed and replaced with different pages and a different scribe had written the revised text ending at verse 8. The scribe for the other manuscript had left sufficient empty space for the missing text to be inserted. This is unheard of as the material is too expensive to waste a column and a half of manuscript space. Of the hundreds of Latin manuscripts only one does not have Mark 16: 9-20. Despite claims to the contrary, the early church fathers dating back to the second century refer to Mark 16: 9-20 in their writings, which are extensive. This predates the supposed ‘reliable’ documents by some two hundred years. The evidence for including our reading in the main text of our Bible is in my opinion overwhelming.

Lastly, even those scholars that say that our passage is a later addition to the text, still say that these verses should be included in our Bibles. Go figure.

Sermon

So then what is all the fuss about? If we read the few verses before our passage to give it a little context, we read this: -

Mark 16:2–8 (NKJV)

2 Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.

6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. 7 But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

8 So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

And that is the supposed ending of Mark’s gospel. “And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” This is not a great way to end the story of the life and ministry of Jesus is it? Given everything that we have read about the miracles and deliverances in Mark over the past few weeks, it is inconceivable that Mark would not end his gospel with a note of triumph and testimony to the ongoing ministry of Jesus and the disciples: -

Mark 16:20 (NKJV)

20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

This is how I would expect Mark to end, but I’m sure that you can see why those who do not believe in the supernatural ministry of Jesus and the early church would want this verse out of the text of the Bible if they could make a halfway decent argument to do so.

Let us now have a look at what is causing all the fuss. Verses 9-11 give us a brief summary of the events of that first resurrection Sunday morning. This was a day of high emotion and drama, there is little wonder that there are discrepancies in the various accounts. What they all agree on is that Mary Magdalen was the first to see Jesus. Given the culture of the day, the word of a woman was not taken seriously by men. That a woman was chosen to bear the most important message in history, points to it’s authenticity. No forger would ever make such a story up. No-one would believe it. Mary’s story and the fact that the disciples didn’t believe her, is a significant marker for it’s authenticity as an original source account.

Mark 16:12–13 (NKJV)

12 After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

“He appeared in another form to two of them”. “In another form”, this is a fascinating phrase. As I have been teaching ever since the beginning of my time here, Jesus constantly told people that the kingdom of God is here and it’s nothing like you think that it will be. Implied in this statement is that the messiah, the Christ, the one anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, to usher in His Kingdom on the earth is nothing like you think he should be. There are no fine kingly clothes. No warrior king leading his army to defeat the Romans. No throne set up in the temple in Jerusalem to rule the world from. A simple rabbi from Nazareth was never going to meet the expectations of the Jewish people. It is no surprise then that when he appeared to the two on the road to Emmaus, that they didn’t recognise Him. After being beaten and scourged and crucified just three days earlier, Jesus was never going to look the same as before His passion. Rick Joiner adds his comment to this passage, “When the Lord appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus, they could not recognize Him because He appeared in a different form. Just as Israel did, we often miss Him because He does not come in the form we are expecting. Over and over, He has tried to teach us this lesson. We must learn it if we are going to be a part of this next great move of God. Let us resolve to welcome Him in whatever form He comes.”[1]

This is very important to us as a congregation because the way that the Lord was leading Colin, did not end up as either of us expected. We experienced something quite different. So too when we are able to meet in church for worship things may look and feel different. This is because we have been through a traumatic time and the church has had to adapt to survive. The church that emerges the other side of the COVID crisis will not be quite the same as it was before. We have all been changed by our experiences.

Mark 16:14 (NKJV)

14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Nothing new here is there? We have heard this kind of talk from Jesus on several occasions. History has shown that from this moment they were changed people. They learned from Him for forty days and then came the next phase in the plan, the great commission.

Mark 16:15–18 (NKJV)

15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Here we get to the heart of the matter. Jesus not only tells the believers that they are to go and preach the gospel, but He backs it up with a series of promises of divine support. As we read the book of Acts, we see how the disciples went out from the moment that they were filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they never stopped until they drew their last breath. Of course God’s provision for believers has never stopped right down through the history of the church there has always been groups of Christians who took the words of Jesus literally and did exactly what the disciples did and with the same results.

Mark 16:19–20 (NKJV)

19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

The concluding words of Mark’s gospel are a confirmation that Jesus kept His promise to the believers. Working with them and confirming the word with signs following.

Friends this scripture provides us with a choice, and it’s not an easy choice. Do I accept the scripture as being valid in the first century, but not today, because our experiences do not live up to the scripture. Or do we say, you know what? I accept that my experiences do not yet line up with the scripture. But the scripture is the Word of God for us and the scripture says in Hebrews 13:8 “8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He never changes. His word never changes. Therefore I accept that the word is true even though my experiences don’t match up with the word. Friends whilst I am here I will say this, I will never change my theology, what I believe about God, because my experiences don’t meet up with the Word. I will pray and seek God until such time as my experiences match up with the Scripture.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude this message this morning with a word from Carlos Annacondia. Who is Carlos? you might ask, I’m glad you did. According to his entry on Wikipedia, “He is, together with, among others, including Claudio Freidzon , one of the main characters of the Revival in Argentina , a revival that has been going on since the beginning of the 1990’s.” This is what he writes concerning this passage in Mark.

“Our challenge today is to understand that the enemy is creating havoc in the world. The streets are filled with people who have lost their way, disoriented, looking for the path we have already found. Do you not think it is about time for them to know the truth as well? We have the authority, the anointing, the power, and the signs in our hands. Never forget that the Lord will be with us—as He was with the disciples—wherever we go, endorsing the work and confirming with signs, and with His Word.” (CA)[2]

[1] William Pratney, Steve Hill, and Tamara S. Winslow, eds., The Revival Study Bible (Singapore: Genesis Books, 2010), 1391.

[2] Ibid, 1393.